Highway 37 is closed in both directions 25 km north of Good Hope Lake, 137 kilometers north of Dease Lake because of Forest Fire.

The Blue River fire, about 35 kilometres south of the Yukon border, is displaying aggressive fire behaviour and is moving in a north-easterly direction due to strong gusty winds.

Helicopters and airtankers are working to slow the spread of the fire with retardant and water. Because of the aggressive fire behaviour, it is not currently possible to have fire fighters on the ground working the fire.

At this time no infrastructure is threatened; however, smoke and working aircraft may be visible to nearby communities and travellers on the highway.

If you see smoke or a fire, please report it by calling *5555 on your cell phone, or 1-800-663-5555. For more information on wildfires in British Columbia, please visit our website at firesafebc.ca.

Update

The Tisigar Lake fire, previously known as the Blue River fire, has grown in size to around 900-hectares and has crossed Highway 37.

Gusting winds in the area pushed the fire in a northeast direction and this aggressive fire moved at a speed of three kilometres per hour. This fire has closed Highway 37 in both directions 25 kilometres north of Good Hope Lake and 137 kilometres north of Dease Lake. For more information on Highway closures please visit www.drivebc.ca.

Helicopters and airtankers worked today to slow the spread of the fire with retardant and water. Because of the aggressive fire behaviour, it was not possible to have fire fighters on the ground working the fire. Currently firefighters are working on setting up structure protection on a ranch in the area’s outbuildings.

The forecast for the area is for high winds tomorrow. It is anticipated that this fire will continue to challenge suppression efforts on Thursday with continued high winds. After Thursday fire suppression efforts are forecasted to be more favourable with cooler temperatures and less wind potentially calming fire behaviour.